Lesotho coach sees way forward as AFCON qualification hopes fade

Defeats to Niger and Morocco have left Lesotho bottom of a group that also includes highly rated Gabon.

Speaking after Tuesday’s loss to Africa’s top-ranked side Morocco at the Free State Stadium, Mafoso remained far from despondent, insisting there were positives to take from the performance. 

The expectation was that Morocco would blow Lesotho away given the gulf in quality between the two sides, however Mafoso believes they defied the odds by only losing 2-0 with the second goal coming in the dying minutes.  

The coach revealed that they’d worked tirelessly behind the scenes to make sure Lesotho were not embarrassed.

"We had to bring in numerical superiority to ensure that we never had 1v1 situations, and they never had too many moments where they could test their quality against ours because numbers would be around the ball."

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Mafoso also went into details regarding how Lesotho had set up against a team that recently reached the quarterfinals of the FIFA World Cup. 

"We knew that we had to defend well and that there would be long periods of suffering during the game, and then we also attempted to threaten them with our counter attacks. Look man the last time we lost against Morocco we conceded seven goals, I'm not saying two goals is better but we were far more competitive."